de Blasio Press Q&A: The United Nations Edition (Updated x 2)

Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke with the press this morning, following his speech at the United Nations Climate Change Summit.

State Senate:

In May Governor Andrew Cuomo pledged to support Democratic control of the state senate. Cuomo made that pledge as part of his receiving the Working Families Party ballot line, with Mayor de Blasio’s support vital to his success.

Cuomo has generally done minimal campaigning for others, and is following that pattern in 2014. Combined with a belief by many that he actually prefers Republican control, or the current Republican/IDC control, of the state senate, many Democrats and WFP members are skeptical that Governor Cuomo will meaningfully satisfy his pledge. I asked Mayor de Blasio whether he believes that Governor Cuomo has done enough so far to fulfill his pledge and what Mayor de Blasio expects the governor to do from now until election day regarding his pledge.

Update – Full Q&A:

On topic question topics included whether other municipal leaders around the world are following New York City’s efforts on climate change, whether/how the City may mandate private sector actions, the grassroots nature of the movement urging action on climate change and the protests that closed Broadway and other streets in lower Manhattan yesterday. Off topic questions included his speech tomorrow to Britain’s Labour Party, Chirlane McCray’s attendance at an NYPD CompStat meeting, whether ISIS and the recent U.S. military strikes will cause a ramped-up security/counter-terrorism effort by the City, Governor Cuomo’s efforts at supporting a Democratic state senate, Congressional approval of military strikes ordered by President Obama, the City school system’s policy on student cell phones and continuing problems at Rikers Island.

Update #2 – Protests:

Mayor de Blasio accepted the notion of protestors blocking City streets. He was asked about a protest on September 22nd in which approximately 100 protestors sat in the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway for several hours and left only when they were arrested and removed by the NYPD.